On the basis of variation in molecular sequence data and morphology, three species are recognised within Dinckleria. The generitype D. pleurata is widespread in Tasmania and New Zealand and has outlier populations in Victoria, and in rainforests around the New South Wales–Queensland border. Dinckleria fruticella is endemic to New Zealand, records of this species from Tasmania and Queensland are based on misidentifications. The widespread Malesian species Plagiochila singularis is transferred to Dinckleria, and newly reported for Australia and Vanuatu. In Australia, this species is known by two collections, one from the Atherton Tableland the other from the Paluma Range. Dinckleria can be distinguished from other genera of Plagiochilaceae by the presence of papillae on leaf-cell surfaces in combination with monomorphic leafy shoots arising from a basal stolon, the stolons originating by ventral-intercalary branching, presence of cell surface wax, and the restriction of rhizoids to the ventral merophyte.